You won’t realize how gargantuan Cosmos II Ultra Tower is until you have a reference point. The following photo shows it next to our favorite case – Cosmos S.

It’s obvious that Cosmos II Ultra Tower isn’t quite the successor to Cosmos S, as the two aren’t in the same category to begin with. Cosmos II Ultra Tower belongs to extreme categories of ultra-tower cases, something you don’t quite see every day. Cosmos II Ultra Tower’s specs say a lot about its unique design, e.g. the case will hold 13x 3.5’’ drives and CPU coolers up to 19cm tall.

We usually receive cases in a box carried by couriers, but this time the courier had to get help. Namely, the package is huge and the case alone weighs 22kg. The box was a bit beaten and even punctured in one spot but the case still survived.

The pictures you see on the back of the case are as big as some smaller HTPC cases. All the details are visible and nicely explained.

The case comes wrapped in Styrofoam and nylon.

The handles that made Cosmos recognizable also come on Cosmos II Ultra Tower. The Ultra Tower weighs 22kg and measures 33.4 x 70.4 x 66.4 cm (WxHxL). Having said that, it is clear that the handles will be a godsend since the case is really massive. The handles are made of iron and are attached to the chassis.

The mesh grill on the top panel can be removed, revealing room for three fans.

The top panel will take three 120mm fans, two 140mm fans or a single 200mm one. Cooler Master instaled only one 120mm fan (1200rpm, 17dBA) on the top panel.

The top panel fan is mounted from inside of the case but you can mount it on the outside as well. For instance, if you want to use a 360mm water cooling radiatior, you can do it by mounting the heat exchanger from the inside and the fans on top.

The control panel is partially covered with a sliding lid with Cosmos logo on it.

Once we pushed the lid towards the back, it slid away rapidly and stopped with a loud bang. The same happened when we slid it towards the initial position. We checked a few times and saw that the mechanism works like that without causing damage. However, Cooler Master claims that the production version of the case has a much smoother motion of the lid.

The control panel has everything you may need, including USB 3.0, eSATA connectors and a powerful fan controller.

We won’t talk about the fan controller much as Cooler Master already did it quite well. We scanned the manual and you can find it on the picture below. The fan controller will take up to 9 fans.

The front panel sliding door hides three 5.25’ and two 3.5’’/2.5’’ bays.

The door is opened with a tug downwards. Note that opening it doesn’t require force after the initiall push. Once you pull the door and let it go, it will silently slide downwards. We heard a bit of noise during the initial push but the company claims this too has been addressed on the production models.

The 5.25’’ covers look nice but are made of plastic. They are taken off by tugging the handle, which seems sturdy enough to last.

The covers for X-Docking can be locked and we received four keys. Tugging the X-Docking cover will eject the drive via a mechanic handle (make sure you’re using AHCI and hot swap).

Both the X-docking bays will only take 3.5’’ devices.

The large mesh grill on the front covers the large 200mm fan (700rpm, 19dBA) and can be easily removed for cleaning. You can replace the 200mm fan with a 140mm one, with extra room on the front-bottom for a 120mm fan.

The side panels look nice and measure about 56x57cm, which is almost like four 17’’ displays.

Both side panels are opened via handles on the rear panel.

The side panels need not be removed as they’re attached to the chassis by hinges. If the panels are getting in the way while mounting components, for instance, a slight push upwards will make them fall off the hinges.

Once the panels are closed they’re quite firm as sharp metal parts (picture below) hold it in place.

The door can be opened by 45 degrees so we didn’t remove them while mounting components.

Just like we expected, the left side panel can house fans inside.

Side panel fans are optional of course. Note that the fans you see on the picture below don’t come with the case.

The right side panel also features a similar filter, which can be removed for cleaning (rightside panel can not house fans).

The rear panel packs as much as 10 expansion slots, which means Quad-SLI or CrossFireX setups won’t be a problem. The eleventh, vertical slot has an ordinary cover. We must say we’d rather see the special StormGuard cover here. The StormGuard cover is featured on the Trooper, the case which we reviewed here, and you can use it to prevent your keyboard and mouse from being stolen.

The PSU is mounted on the bottom, but Cooler Master implemented a special slot that leaves more room inside. The extended slot looks quite nice and is flush with the case when watching from the side.

Below the PSU is a filter that can be removed without opening the case.

The metal feet are attached to the chassis and come with rubber pads. It results in Cosmos II being quite difficult to move without lifting it off the ground.

The case’s innards are physically split in two parts. The upper part will take a plethora of form factors, namely Micro-ATX, ATX, e-ATX, XL-ATX, SSI CEB and SSI EEB. The CPU backplate cutout is huge, which means that replacing CPU coolers will be a breeze as well.

The PSU goes in a separate chamber, which is also shared by additional HDD cage. Cosmos II will take a total of thirteen 3.5’’, where six goes in the bottom chamber. Drivers are cooled by two 120mm fans (1200rpm, 17dBA).

The air passes over the drives and goes out via the back side, through exhausts on right side panels. There are no metal walls that split the bottom chamber and the side panel, which makes routing cables from the PSU to the bottom HDD cage easy.

Drive brackets are the same in all cages, i.e. they take 3.5’’ or 2.5’’ drives.

The brackets are made of plastic but the metal mesh grill makes them look much cooler. However, we recently tested Trooper, the case that implemented brackets a bit better. Namely, the grommets on Trooper’s brackets cannot fall out, which is not the case with Cosmos II.

Two fans sit in plastic door which can be removed easily – a simple lift on the front will release them from the brackets. The fans aren’t fixed very tightly in the door, so optional grommets will come in really handy.

The bottom chamber holds two HDD cages, that can be removed by unscrewing four screws on the back. Two metal add-ons will let you mount a radiator with two fans in the place of bottom HDD cages. However, you can mount a radiator on the top and rear panels as well, so Cosmos II has you well covered there.

Optical drives are held in place by toolless mechanisms. Below the three 5.25’’ bays are X-Docking hot-swap units. X-Docking is powered via 4-pin molex cable, i.e. you’ll need two connectors on each cable because each X-Docking requires own power. We instantly remembered Obsidian 800D case, which has four hot-swap bays, where all four are powered via a single SATA.

There are enough cable management holes, which are also wide enough. Each hole has protective rubber rings held in place by metal clips. However, Cooler Master used some kind of flexible rubber that falls out occasionally when cables are pulled over it. We think that the rubber would’ve fit better if there were clips on both sides of the motherboard tray. For instance, Obsidian 800D uses much thicker rubber that doesn’t even need clips to stay in place. Cosmos II also has holes just below the top panel, which will come in handy with CPU power cables.

Cosmos II comes with 5 fans, which should be enough for most users. Naturally, the case offers much more than that and advanced users will know how to put it to good use.

When the fans are at full rpm, Cosmos II ends up being quite loud but also very cool. The noise is considerably dampened once you close the side panels. The included fan controller offers three operation modes, where the fan controller’s lights will show which mode is currently running.

Cosmos II can easily hold Quad SLI or CrossFireX setups. You can mount additional fans in the case (up to 10 fans), for instance, whereas the fan controller will take a total of nine fans.

Cooler Master invested a lot of time and effort into redesigning the Cosmos case, and Cosmos II Ultra Tower is proof that the effort paid off. Cosmos II is the largest computer case we’ve tested so far but it’s still beautiful despite the size.

Exterior design resembles the original Cosmos case, but the insides have been overhauled completely. Cosmos II has plenty of room and will take as much as three water cooling radiators or thirteen 3.5’’ drives. All motherboard types are supported and the same goes for CPU coolers up to 19cm, or graphics up to 38.5cm. Five included fans take care of cooling with a little help from the integrated fan controller.

We expected Cosmos II Ultra Tower to run perfectly. However, we received one of the first samples and Cooler Master made sure that deficiencies don’t end up in retail. Namely, we’re talking about loud sliding door mechanisms on front and top panels. As far as manufacturing and finishing touches go, Cooler Master did a grand job.

The case is great, there’s no doubt about it, but it does make you think whether it’s worth €349. If money isn’t an issue, then you shouldn’t think much as Cosmos II Ultra Tower will give you unprecedented control. In fact, we haven’t had such easy mounting procedures with any other case.

Looking at value alone, Cooler Master may be asking a bit too much. There are some cases that are as much as €100 cheaper, and although they aren’t Cosmos II, they can at least compete in many things.

All in all, Cosmos II Ultra Tower is an almost perfect case with a saucy price tag. However, the price tag doesn’t say one crucial thing – this is not the case that you’ll look to get replaced soon, so the price should not discourage you from considering it.